Pyrophoric lighter



vJ. KOHN PYRoPHoRIc LIGHTER Fume i7, i941,

Filed Deo. 22, 1939 r2 Sheets-Sheet l 1f-Z229 0 2a INVENTOR. L Us /\/0 HN ATTORNEYS June i?, mi.. J; KOHN 2,245,926Y

YRoPHoRIc LIGHTERy F'iled.Dec. 22, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JUL Us /\/O /N ATTORNEYS Patented June 17, 19421 morirono-maman Y v.mum 1mm, New York, N. Y. Application neunte:- 22, 193s, serial No. 310,519 1 claim. (ci. s1-2.1i l

This invention relates to improvements inv pyrophoric lighters and has particular reference to a fuel reservoir and mounting therefor.

. In various types of lighters now in general use. the reservoir, with its ignitable wick, is xed within the casing of the lighter and, as a consetending from the upper end of the fuel reservoir I5, when the closure II visin closing position. The reservoir il is provided in its bottom with a customary fuell inlet' Il, and, in accordance quence, when the wick is ignited and the lighter at least partially inverted, as must be done when lattempting to light a smoking pipe, the iiame from the wick' will impinge upon some portion of the lighter casing and, aside from the carbon deposit thimjormed on the casing, will sometimes heat the casing to suchl an extent, before the light can be obtained, that the lighter cannot be conveniently held in the hand without possible injury.

'I'he present invention is designed to overcome the above difliculty by providing a simple and practical construction wherein theffuel reservoir is movably mounted within the casing of the lighter in such manner that said reservoir may be adjusted from-a position in which it is enclosed within said casing to one wherein the wick of :the reservoir is projected outwardly beyond said casing, thus making it convenient to tilt the lighter to obtain a light for a smoking pipe 4without injurious effect.

The inventive idea involvedis capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions some of which, for purposes of illustration, are shown inthe accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is avertical longitudinal section through a lighter constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2`2 of'Figure l.

Figure 3 isy a horizontal section taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a perspective view, partly broken away and shown' in section, showing the reservoir of the lighter projected partially from the taken casingand in position to light a smoking pipe.

with the present invention, is slidably mounted.

within the casing so that it may be partially projected from the casing to a lighting position,

` shown in Figure 4, or it may be entirely resure Il the wickis, at the same time, ignited.

Figure. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section,

illustrating another form of the invention with the closure of the lighter in open position,lthe

moved from the casing', as will later appear, in order to replenish thesupply of fuel in the reservoir.v

Operating means forvthe closure Il and 1gniting means for the wick .i4 are cooperatively arranged within the casing so\that when said operating means is manipulated to open the clo- Said operating meansl comprises 'the depressible member I1 pivotally mounted at i8 near the rear end of the bottom of the casing,L with the member extending j upwardly within an opening formed in the rear wall of said casing and yieldably held in its normal position of Figure 1 by means of a spring I 9 coiled about the pivot I8, with one end of said spring engaging the bottom of the casing and the other end contacting the depressible operating member i1 so as to iorce the same outwardly to the limit of its movementto normal position. I'he upper end of the memberi1, within the casing I0, terminates in a rack segment 20 the teeth of which are engagea-ble with a toothed disc 2l formed as a part of the closure il'.` With this construction, it will be apparent that when the member I1 is depressed inwardlyfinto the casing about its pivot I8. the

segment 2li will rotatethe closure I l about the shaft I2 tothe open position shown. in Figure 4; At the same time' that the closure is being opened,

the wick I4 is also ignited.y This is accomplishedby means of'a friction disc 22 havingthe shaft i2 as its axis so that the pawl 22a on the closure il will engage one of the teeth 22h on the disc 22 to turn the latter when the closure Il is opened. Said disc ,22 is in constant engagement with a pyrophoric element 22 mounted dotted lines indicating the projected position of the reservoir, and

Figure 6 is a section Lon ure 5.A l

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 to 4,

the vlighter is shownas comprising a casing Il having a closure il for its open upper end, which closure is pivotally movable about the stub shaft i2. Said closure l'i carries a snuiier or wick the une t-e arm-- in the upper end of a iixed tube 24 within the casing and held in constant engagement with.

the dise 22 by means of the coil spring 25 within said tube.

For purposes of the present invention, the tube 24 isdisposedwithin the casing inaverticallyin'r clined position and, at a. point intermediate the' ends thereof, said tube is provided lwith a' lateral stopA member extending toward the adjacent wall of the' reservoir Il.. This stop member is cap I'I adapted to engage over. the wick' It ex- 65 provided for the purpose of limiting the outward sliding movement of the reservoir when the cas? ing is tilted or partially inverted, as in Figure 4,

after the wick Il has been ignited by the opening f of the closure H. Cooperating 'with lthe stop member 26 and adapted to contact the same when 5 e the reservoir has reached the limit of its outward movement, is a pin 21 extending from the reservoir adjacent the bottom thereof. When the reservoir is slid outwardly s'aid pin 21 contacts the stop 26, as best shown in Figure 2. Due to l the inclination of the tube 2l, the pin 21 assumes v a partially offset positiongrelative to the stop 2l, as shown in the dotted line position of Figure 2. 'I'his is donefor the purpose of permitting the pin 21 to be shifted laterally with respect to the stop 16 26 to entirely clear said stop and thus enable the reservoir I 5 to be completely withdrawn from the casing when it is desired to replenish the fuel supply. Such lateral shifting of the pin 21 is made possible by reducing the width of the reservoir I5 to slightly less than the interior width of the casing I0, as shown in Figure 3. so as to give the reservoir, in its partially projected position, sufficient play within the casing I0 to enable the pin 21 to be cleared of the stop 28, after which 25 the reservoir can be completely extracted from the casing.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 5 and 6, the operating means for the closure Ii and the igniting means forthe wick are of the same construction as previously described and the casing is likewise the saxne with the exception that in the present embodiment the front wall thereof is providedwith an elongated slot 23.

Projecting through this slot is the headed closure member 29 for thefuel inlet n ofthe reservoir Il,

said inlet being formed in the front wall of the reservoir instead of in the bottom thereof as in the first described embodiment. With this arrangement, the closure or plug 29 acts as a stop which engages the upper end of the slot 28 to i limit the outward movement of the reservoir to the dotted 'line position when the lighter-'1s tilted. Also, with the closure 2i in the front wall of the reservoir, and projecting through thev in s aid casing so as to incline toward one of said walls. a stop on said tube intermediate its ends, and a stop adjacent the lower end of said reservoir partially offset in a vertical plane relative to the first namedstop but engageable therewith to limit the outward movement of said reservoir when said casing is inverted to project said Wick beyond the casing, the lateral movement of said reservoir within said casing being such as to permit the stop-on said reservoir to be completely offset relative to the stop on said tube so that said reservoir can be entirely withdrawn from within said casing.

` JULIUS KOHN. 

